Silver's Growing Pains
by Ryan the Game Master
Summary: After his first failure as a Secret Freedom Fighter, Silver's insecurities come to a head.


**This is my first Archie Sonic fanfic, and probably the only one I'll do.**

**All characters contained within are owned by Service Games (SEGA) and Archie Comic Publications.**

* * *

Silver was miserable. His first mission within the Secret Freedom Fighters was pretty much a failure. While there were no casualties for his own team, Geoffrey St. John had escaped. After he and the others got chewed out by Harvey Who, they were given some time to rest and recuperate before their next mission.

Silver reclined in the air, using his Psycho Kinesis to keep him aloft, and contemplated his situation. He was stuck in an era that was not his own, on a new team, trying to do nearly suicidal tasks all while trying to identify a traitor that seemed to not exist. He was no closer to completing his goal than when he first started. _'What am I doing here? I'm supposed to be finding the traitor, bringing him or her down and saving this era, but all I seem to be doing is making things worse and becoming part of its destruction!'_ The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he got.

_'And then there was the rant I got from Sonic. Sure, I've had little to go on, but he didn't have to call me a flake like that. I mean, I'm trying my best here! It's not like I'm supposed to be perfect!'_ As his various insecurities began to pile up inside of him, a voice called his attention. "Silver, wake up." It was Harvey. "I'm calling a meeting with Team Freedom and Team Fighters. Perhaps we can learn a few pointers from those who have been at this for a while." Silver said nothing and returned to the floor, miserably following the director.

* * *

The meeting, for what it was worth, started out well enough. Each member put their two cents in and offered their perspective on their missions and what was going on. Everyone but Silver, whose mind seemed to be elsewhere. Harvey noticed this, but waited for a good moment to do something about it. "Well, that's the gist of things," Chuck concluded. "Everything's going fine, considering. Kind of like old times, to be honest." Harvey nodded, "Good, good. With the reputation of Naugus finally showing some blemish, I believe now would be a good time to put together a plan." Looking to his right, he asked, "What do you think, Silver?" The hedgehog was unresponsive.

"Silver?"

Still no response.

"Yo, Silver!" said Sonic with a span of his fingers. "Someone's talkin' to you!"

That got his attention. "Huh? Oh, uh, sorry. What was the question?"

Harvey sighed. This would not do. before he could say anything, though, Sonic spoke up. "Since we're all offering some input, I'd like to point something out. I don't think Silver's cut out for your covert team." Said hedgehog's visibly shocked and hurt expression did not go unnoticed by the group. Sonic, however, made no effort to mask his dislike and continued. "Your team is supposed to take down Naugus and St. John from the shadows, right? So that means each member has to be the best at what they do. I can't exactly speak about the dudes I'm not familiar with, but Silver? The guy practically screams, 'Hey, look at me! I'm a newbie with a death wish!' with everything he does."

Silver yelled out, "Excuse me?" Sonic said with a sneer, "You heard me. You act like you're this mysterious, all important hero with special powers and a destiny to save the world, but as far as I'm concerned, you're nothing but talk!" Harvey remained silent during Sonic's shredding of Silver's character, of which everyone could tell was hurting him. Chuck calmly said, "Now, now, Sonny, I think you've said enough." Sonic shot back, "No, Uncle Chuck, he's been asking for this! It's like I told you before, Silver! Nearly everyone here is a bigger hero than you have any chance of being! The sooner you wake up and go back to whatever loser era you came from, the better off we'll all be! Maybe then we don't have to worry about groundless accusation and lame theories-"

"**ENOUGH!**" Silver shouted indignantly and grabbed Sonic with his PK, yanking him to his side of the table where they all sat. He put one boot on the table and looked Sonic in the eye furiously. "You've said your piece, Sonic. Now it's my turn." Silver's voice held a low, bitter edge to it, which everyone noticed. "I know I'm not as experienced as you, Amy, Tails or anyone else here, but as you stated, _**I'm new at this.**_ I have failed. I've attacked first with little to back myself up. I'm naive. I'm insecure. But you know what? I'm going to make mistakes as I get better. We all do, right?" He looked around and nearly everyone in the room had to nod their heads in agreement at that statement. Looking directly at Sonic again, he said, "And don't you dare tell me that you haven't had your fair share of screwups." Sonic looked off to the side.

Silver continued, "All I'm trying to is the best I can with the abilities I have. No, I'm not perfect, and I'm not the best, but I am here doing my part for the sake of this era. Yes, I'm a newbie, and yes, I might not be anywhere near as heroic as anyone in this era, but I'm not trying to be. I'm trying to protect all the lives I possibly can, just like you are. So, either cut me some slack, or leave me alone. Got it?"

His own tirade finished, Silver, in an ironically gracious manner, gently returned Sonic to his seat. He then got off the table and said to Harvey, "I'll be waiting for our next mission. Please excuse me." With that, Silver left.

The tension that was in the room was soon replaced with uncomfortable silence. Wisely, Harvey chose to end the meeting right then. "I believe that we have all said plenty for the moment. I suggest we all try again a few months from now. Meeting adjourned." Everyone slowly emptied the room. As Chuck stood to leave, he noticed Sonic, who remained in his seat. He decided to leave his nephew be, shaking his head in disappointment.

Sonic stayed put in that spot for a long time, lost in thought. He couldn't shake Silver's words out. To make things worse, Sonic's own mistakes and failures began replaying themselves in his head. Eventually, he was forced to come to one conclusion...

Silver was right. As awesome as he was, Sonic wasn't perfect, and he had no right to fault anyone for their own failings, especially someone he didn't really know. Sonic knew what he had to do next. It was going to suck, but it had to be done.

His mind made up, he sped out of the meeting room to find Silver...and apologize.

* * *

_All things considered, Sonic's anguish-fueled rant at Silver in issue #235 pissed me off. That, coupled with the stress I'm under myself, led to a plot bunny that kept me from sleep for a while. So, here we are, with this one-shot._

...Yeah, I know Sonic's an ass here, but to be fair, he's more of an ass in the comics than he is in the games. Plus, I'm pretty sure he doesn't like Silver (to put it mildly) right now. So, I believe it's safe to say that such words aren't too far off from what he'd say.

_Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you liked it._


End file.
